Feeding apparatus



Feb. 12, 1935. c H, U gr AL 01,991,235

' FEEDING APPARATUs Filed Apfil 26; 1950 32 19 370 R 341 37/ r 33 as vINVENTORS A ORNEY PatentedFeb. 12, 1935 1,991,235

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FEEDING APPARATUS Charles H. True, Chicago, and 'Jay R. Hickox, 11g kGrange, 11].; said True assignor to said c ox Application April 26, 1930, Serial No. 447,567

2 Claims. (01. 210-40) This invention relates to apparatus for feedaperture 1'7 formed in the top wall of the coming treating liquids to boiler feedwater and has partment 11. for its principal objects to provide a new and While this communication has been shown as improved method and apparatus by means of an aperture in the top wall of the compartment,

5 which the amount of liquid introduced into the such showing is merely illustrative; if desired a 5 feed line of a boiler will be automatically propipe may be connected to said aperture with its portioned within predetermined limits to the lower end terminating some distance below the amount of feed water supplied and to prevent top. The purpose of connecting the compartobjectionable oxidation of the boiler compound. ment 11 with the steam space 12 is first, to ex- Another object is to combine with the autoclude air from said compartment, and second, 10 matic proportioning of the treating liquid to to furnish the desired pressure within the comfeed water, suitable means for preheating or partment 11 to cause the liquid contained therein otherwise conditioning such liquid before its to feed readily out of said compartment, and, addition to the feedwater, and for securing a third, to maintain the treating liquid at a sub- 15 thorough mixing of said compound with the feed stantially constant temperature. 15 water. The treating liquid passes from the compart- A further object is to provide a new and imment 11 through a conduit 18 which is connected proved construction for a container or vessel in with an automatic feeding dev c a Check which the conditioning of the'treating liquid is valve 20 being in p between e con ainer 20 carried out, prior to its addition to the feed 0 d d f ding dev ce 19. 20

water, In order that the amount of liquid fed will Another object is to provide a new and imbe pr por ional to the supply of feed water, the

proved construction of an automatic feeding defeeding device 19 iS preferably o constructed vice. that it will be actuated in synchronism with the The above and other objects of the invention d Water pu p- T la ter has been indi- 25- will appear more fully from the following more cated diagrammatically as consisting oi. a water detailed description and by reference to the ac- Cylinder 21 a a Steam y de 2. The water c'ompanying drawing forming a, part hereof cylinder has mounted therein a piston 23, while wherein Fig. 1 of the drawing is a sectional plan t steam y d s un d th r a piston view showing constructional details of suitable 24 and these tWO Pistons are connected together 30 examples of the principal component members by a common p s o od 25. AS the construcof one embodiment of the system or apparatus tional details of pu p orm no part of the v in accordance with the invention, and more or Present invention and furthermore, a he con-- less diagrammatically the connections and rela- Strlletioh of such p p is W l known in the tionships between said components. In th art, the steam and Water inlets and outlets and 35 drawing, the numeral 10 indicates a container other constructional details of the pu p have in which a supply of treating liquid is carried not been Shown in the drawingfor feeding of the same to the feed water in pro- The automatic fe ding device comprises a D portion to the amount of the latter fed through rality of easing members 27 d 8 Secured tothe usual feed water supply line. This container gether i a suitable Way a for ample, y 40: includes an inner compartment 11 paced from means Of the bOltS 29, 30. Secured between the the outer walls of the container to provide a Casing members 26 a d 2 is a diaphragm 31. A steam jacket 12. A filling plug 13 is provid d t second diaphragm 32 issecured between the caspermit the compartment '11 to be filled with 1 members 27 and 28. These two diaph treating liquid from time to time. Steam is sup-- are secured together in fixed relationship by 45 plied to the steam space 12 through a pipe 14 means'of a bolt 33 which passes through suitable n ted to any suitable supply of steam of apertures provided in the middle of said diasubstantially constant pressure suitably secured p rag s a d t ugh a pair of Sp oc s 34. to the casing 10 at any desirable point. Along Theconduit 18 communicates with a compartthe bottom thereof is a trap 15' which communiment 35 defined by the casing member 26 d 60 cates through the aperture 16 with the interior the diaphragm 31. A second compartment 36 is of the steam space 12 and serves to collect condefined by the casing member 28 and diaphragm densate formed insaid steam space. Communi- 32 and this compartment is in communication cation is established between the inner compartwith the water cylinder 21 of the pump by means ment 11 and the steam space 12 by means or an of the conduit 37a. 55

It will be noted that the effective area of the diaphragm 32 is much larger than the effective area of the diaphragm 31 and that the two diaphragms are so connected together by means of the bolt 33 as to be moved in unison to perform the functions of a differential diaphragm or piston. The differential diaphragm is normally forced toward the left in the drawing by means of a compression spring 37 one end of which abuts against an inner wall of the casing member 26 and the other end. of which abuts against a sliding thimble or sleeve 38. The sleeve 38 is held by means of the spring 37 against the head of the bolt 33. It will be obvious from the above and an inspection of the drawing, that when the piston 23 is moving towards the conduit 37a that the pressure of the water within the cylinder 21 will be communicated through the conduit 37a to the compartment 36; that such pressure will be exerted upon the larger diaphragm 32 thus moving the compound or differential diaphragm consisting of the members 32, 31 towards the right against the action of the spring 37.

In order to limit the amount of movement of the differential diaphragm and thereby regulate the quantity of treating liquid pumped upon each working stroke of the feeding device 19, a bolt or screw 39 is screwed into the end of the casing member 26, a lock nut 40 being provided for holding said screw 39 in operative position. The thimble'38 is mounted slidably upon the inner end of said screw 39 so as to permit relative movement between the thimble and screw, but is of such a length that it limits the stroke of the diaphragms 31 and 32 toward the right, the

screw 39 being short enough so that it does notafiect the stroke of the diaphragm. The stroke of the diaphragms toward the left is limited by contact between flange 34a on the right hand spacing member 34 and flange 27a on casing member 27. The stroke of the diaphragms and the rate of feed of the treating liquid cannot therefore be changed without disassembling the feeding device, so that the rate of feed cannot be changed by the engineer when in use, although it can be changed by changing member 38 when the device has been disassembled. The compartment 35 of the feeding device is in communication with a conduit 41 which leads through a check valve 42 to an outlet pipe 46 the lower end of which is connected with the main feed water line 47. The line 47 may be either the suction or pressure line of the feed water pump.

The manner in which the above described apparatus operates is as follows: Let it be assumed that a suitable supply of treating liquid has been placed in the compartment 11 of the compound container 10 and that the feed water pump is operated, steam is supplied from any suitable source to the steam space 12 of said container thereby heating the container and the contents of the compartment 11. A portion of this steam passes through the aperture 17 thus creating pressure within such compartment suflicient to insure the ready feeding of the treating liquid from such compartment. When the water piston causing the differential diaphragm to be moved,

towards the right. The contents of the compartment 35 will therefore be expelled through the conduit 41, the check valve 42 being opened and the check valve 20 closed by the pressure. Due to the difference in area of the diaphragms 32, 31, the pressure of the fluid pumped out of the compartment 35 will, of course, be greater than the pressure in the feed water line 47. As the treating liquid and water pass to the pipe 47, they will be thoroughly mixed with the feed water in the supply line.

It will be noted that the compartment 11 in which the supply of treating liquid is maintained is closed to the atmosphere, the pressure for feeding such liquid from said compartment being provided by the steam supplied through the pipe 14 to the steam jacket 12 and aperture 1'7 to the compartment 11 above the level of its contents.

In its flow from the compartment 11 through the feeding device 19 to the boiler, the treating liquid passes through hermetically sealed conduits and chambers, consequently oxidation of the treating liquid is effectively prevented, and as oxidation of the treating liquid has caused considerable trouble with treating liquid feeders in the past, the present invention obviates such trouble.

It will be seen from the above that the apparatus disclosed will carry out a method of supplying treating liquid to feed water which consists of the following steps: subjecting the treating liquid to a preheating or conditioning by subjecting such liquid directly to the action of steam supplied to the compartment 11 through the aperture 17 and also to the heating action of the steam in the'steam jacket 12; withdrawing, by the action of the automatic feeding device 19, a measured quantity of liquid, as determined by the length of the bushing 38, from the compartment 11, and as such measured quantity is withdrawn and delivered on each upward stroke of the piston 23, the rate of feed of the treating liquid will be accurately proportioned to the rate offeed of the feed water; and delivering such measured quantity of treating liquid to the boiler feed water at predetermined temperature.

While the system or apparatus disclosed forms a satisfactory example of means for carrying out the method above described, it will of course be understood that the invention is not limited to the constructional details or the arrangement of the component parts illustrated and described but that many changes, variations and modifications may be resorted to without departing from the principles of the invention. In particular, it is obvious that, if pipe 47 is a suction pipe, diaphragm 31 may be omitted or diaphragms 31 and 32 combined into one on account of the low pressure against which the automatic feeding device needs to deliver, or a piston having ends of equal areas be substituted for the diaphragms.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for supplying a treating liquid to a boiler, a sealed container for said liquid arranged normally to prevent ingress of air and having partition means for dividing it into an irmer treating liquid containing compartment and a steam jacket surrounding said compartmentgand means for connecting said system of a chamber for fluid boiler compound, a

steam jacket with a source of steam, said parand leading through said jacket, said chamber tition being provided with an aperture for the having a communication with said jacket at the passage of steam to said inner compartment top of the chamber, removable means for closing above the level of the contents thereof. said passage, means for conducting steam to said 2. The combination in a feed water heating jacket, and means for leading condensate therefrom.

CHARLES H. TRUE.

steam jacket for said chamber, a passage for in- JAY R. HICKOX.

troducing compound into the top of said chamber 

